The DAW that bears the closest resemblance to GarageBand is Logic Pro X. They even look alike. There's no question that I have a bias having started out on GB before moving to Logic Pro X because the editing and mixing limitations in the former soon became too frustrating to tolerate. Like all fully featured DAWs Logic Pro X has a steep learning curve but for basic recording it's pretty straight-forward and there's no shortage of literature and videos that cover everything from the simplest home recording approaches to producing full-blown commercial releases. And........it's only $199.00 for Americans!

I started out on Pro Tools because the friend who was helping me get set up was using Pro Tools. Nearly 20 years later I'm still using Pro Tools because he's still using Pro Tools and he's my first call when I'm either having an issue or need to figure out how to do something new. I don't need the help nearly as much these days but every now and again something will come up. After all these years, I have no interest in learning a new program.